COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes will head to Evanston, Ill., this weekend to compete in one day of competition at the Northwestern Duals. Bouts will begin at 8 a.m. at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion (SPAC) on the Northwestern campus. This tournament marks Ohio State’s last regular-season duals event.

In Evanston, Buckeye swashbucklers will compete against 10 teams, five of which are ranked in the Top 10 in the CollegeFencing360.com Coaches poll. Ohio State men are ranked No. 1 while the women compete as the fourth-ranked team.

The Buckeyes will start the competition Saturday with a round against North Carolina before they face off against UC-San Diego, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Stanford, Wayne State, Temple, California Institute of Technology (CIT), Princeton and Fairleigh Dickenson throughout the rest of the day. The duals will continue on Sunday; however, all Ohio State bouts will take place on Saturday.

After invitationals hosted by St. John’s and NYU last weekend, epeeist Katarzyna Dabrowa secured a CollegeFencing360.com honor Jan. 30. She was selected as one of eight primetime performers. Dabrowa, who claimed the women’s epee national champion title in 2012, went 12-3 at the St. John’s Invitational on Jan. 26 and won all but one bout at the NYU Invitational (14-1) on Jan. 27.

After the tournament in Evanston, Ill. on Feb. 2, select Buckeyes will head to Baltimore, Md., for the Junior Olympics Feb. 15-18.

2013 CollegeFencing360.com Coaches Poll

Both Ohio State squads were ranked in the Top 10 of CollegeFencing360.com’s Jan. 22 coaches’ poll. The Buckeye men garnered first place, while the women came in fourth in the rankings.